The official publication of the North American Conference on British Studies (NACBS), the Journal of British Studies, has positioned itself as the critical resource for scholars of British culture from the Middle Ages through the present. Drawing on both established and emerging approaches, JBS presents scholarly articles and books reviews from renowned international authors who share their ideas on British society, politics, law, economics, and the arts. In 2005 (Vol. 44), the journal merged with the NACBS publication Albion, creating one journal for NACBS membership.

NACBS-DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIP 2015 COMPETITION

The NACBS DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIP is awarded to support dissertation research in the British Isles on any topic of British (including Scottish, Irish and Imperial) history or British Studies. The Fellowship consists of a $10,000 stipend. Two runners-up will receive a $5,000 travel grant. Each advisor may nominate one candidate enrolled in a Ph.D. program in a U.S. or Canadian institution. At the time of application, the nominee must have completed all degree requirements save the dissertation.

The nomination must be made by the student's dissertation advisor, supported by one additional letter of recommendation. The nominating advisor must be a member of the NACBS.

The candidate must need to travel to the British Isles for the purpose of dissertation research. The fellowship awardee must conduct full-time research in the British Isles for an extended stay of at least three-months duration. Travel grant awardees may conduct shorter research trips.

These fellowships may be held concurrently with other awards.

Winners must utilize these fellowships by August 31, 2016 and must also submit, by this date, a financial report on the use of the funds.

Procedures for Application:

The application consists of the two letters of nomination and recommendation described above; a one-page curriculum vitae of the candidate; and a 1000 word research proposal written by the candidate, which should explain the importance of the topic to the field of British history and include a description of the relevant primary materials that are to be consulted in the British Isles. Appended to the CV should be a list of the financial support (source, type and amount) received by the applicant since the beginning of graduate study, and an indication of any current pending applications for financial aid to support dissertation research.

Letters of reference should address themselves not only to the student's past record, but also to the importance of the topic and the need to pursue research in the British Isles. The major advisor, in endorsing the candidate, is also confirming the ABD status of the candidate and the financial information requested above.

Send a copy of the application package to each member of the Dissertation Fellowship Committee listed below. Letters of reference should be placed in sealed envelopes, signed across the flap, and given to the applicant for inclusion in the application package. Applications must be postmarked by April 1, 2015. Send materials, including a current email address, to:

RECENT AWARD WINNERS

NACBS Dissertation Year Fellowship (2014)

Benjamin Hicklin, University of Michigan: "`Neither a Borrower nor a Lender Be’? Experiencing Credit and Debt in the English Atlantic, 1660-1750"

Benjamin Hicklin’s dissertation explores the ‘lived experience’ of credit and debt in the late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century British Empire, focusing especially on the extension of credit from English merchants to Jamaicans and Pennsylvanians between the Glorious Revolution and the onset of the Seven Years War. In it, he explores how ordinary people living in the British Empire in this period dealt with the presence or absence of money. And he does so in both transatlantic and comparative contexts, showing, along the way, how the evolution of an English credit culture took place not only in England but also within a circulatory and interactive oceanic marketplace.

Dissertation Year Travel Grants (2014)

Joshua Ehrlich, Harvard University: “Empire of Letters: An Intellectual History of the East India Company”

Joshua Ehrlich’s dissertation offers an intellectual history of the East India Company by considering the ways in which the notion of an ‘empire of letters’ figured prominently in the ideology of the company and its critics. In undertaking this project, Ehrlich plans to show how the British variant of Enlightenment endured longer than its continental counterparts in both Britain and South Asia. By examining a range of published and archival sources, this work, when completed, will frame both the East India Company and the British Empire in South Asia within a broader, global and late-Enlightenment framework.

Jessica Walker’s dissertation illuminates the construction and representation of female monarchy in early modern Europe by analyzing both English and international portrayals of Mary Tudor as the first woman to rule England in her own right and as a Catholic monarch in the midst of the Reformation. What especially distinguishes her work is the extraordinarily wide range of sources she will consider and her proposed focus on analyzing the images of Mary that were issued internationally in Ireland and Spain, as well as in England. Her dissertation thus functions simultaneously as a sophisticated exercise in political, religious, intellectual, cultural, gender and international history.